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Dog's miraculous recovery after being impaled on stick

Rosie's X-ray, revealing the position of the stick Photo: Phoenix Public Relations

A couple from East Yorkshire have thanked a vet who saved their dog after she became impaled on a foot-long stick.

Eileen Brown and Pete Emerton had taken their eight-year-old Labrador cross, Rosie, to play in a green area close to their home in Cherry Tree Lane, in Beverley.

But when she went to fetch a ball, she ran onto a stick which was embedded on the ground.

Eileen said: “Rosie had lost sight of a ball we had thrown for her. She then noticed a long stick, which was stuck in the ground at a 45 degree angle, and pounced on it.

“I quickly realised she was impaled on the stick so I ran to her and wrenched it out of the ground to free her. With it being a Sunday we knew we would need an emergency vet – Pete’s brother contacted Kingston Vets and we got her straight into their Park Street surgery in Hull.”

Vet Paul Atkinson said: “We anaesthetised Rosie so that we could take X-rays and assess the damage. The stick had gone under her tongue and down her neck.

“We operated on her immediately to remove the stick, which was over a foot long, and stitched the wound under her tongue where the stick had gone in.

"Rosie has been very lucky because she could have damaged the muscles that are responsible for swallowing and could also have had complications from infection and splinters. We kept her in for two days and put her on antibiotics and pain relief and she has now made an amazing recovery.”

Eileen added: “I can’t praise the vets enough. They had a team ready for us as soon as we got there and they gave us updates on Rosie’s progress every couple of hours.”